The children of London project

[Mrsbluesk1]

Hi, A friend mentioned they recently took part in this project called "The children of London". It is apparently to create a collection of all the children who live in London.

Her kids were photographed and than she was told if she wants a picture it will cost £95 for an A4 print out per picture.

She also needs to pay a £50 donation.

These seems very expensive and exclusive. How can it include all children of London, when I know so many families struggling that won't be able to afford this.

Is this just an elaborate scam? I already filled in a form online before I knew the cost, but definitely won't be taking part now. I voiced my concerns to my friend and she is worried it might not be legit at all and they already took pictures of her children.

Anyone can give any advice? Is seeing red flags unreasonable?

Children of London - Chronicling The Live's Of London's Children In 2023

It does look exactly like a vanity publishing product. Sorry

Of course it's a scam. Complete with fake "royal warrant" crest. Hope they get reported to trading standards.

Thank goodness for mothers instincts. I will let her know.

Not going to be very representative of London’s children at those kinds of prices!

Funny how thus one is also doing this.... not so exclusive....maybe call Gosh charity...
https://schryverphoto.com/little-londoners-the-book/

I bet they are running it around the country possibly. Definitely targeting parents as who doesn’t think their kids are simply amazing.

I really wished it wasn’t a scam as my friend was so excited to be exclusively ‘selected’. As much as I love my kids, they’re not getting photos worth hundreds of pounds, I’m not even sure my boiler will last this winter.

I've sent them an email about their inclusiveness.

Hi,
My name is Richard Bradbury and I am a professional photographer with over 35 years of experience photographing advertising and editorial projects all over the world. I founded The Children Of London project in 2010 as a way of bringing the skills of some of the finest photographers in the world to parents and children throughout London and also to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. One of my applicants recently made me aware of this MumsNet thread and I wanted to answer some of the points made.

I am very annoyed by the references to this project as a 'scam' as my team and I work extremely hard to produce an amazing book of images of London's children every year to form a pictorial archive of the lives of London's children photographed at their favourite location. We have now produced 15 editions of this publication featuring images of well over 1000 children. Copies 001, 002 & 003 are retained by His Majesty The King (and formally The Queen), The Prime Minister and The Mayor. The others are available for clients to purchase.

We now have nearly 1000 applicants every year and we chose around 120-150 to represent every walk of life in London. We only ask that successful applicants make a donation (we recommend £50) to GOSH as payment for their photoshoot and there is NO other financial requirement whatsoever. Myself and the other 3 photographers that work on the book are multi award winning international talents so for £50 you get access to the very best in the business. If clients want to purchase prints or a book then they are very welcome to but they are NOT obliged to and this will not effect their children featuring in the book.

We have clients from every walk of life and I believe that £50 given as a charitable donation is not too much to ask regardless of your financial position. BTW we have raised more than £100,000.00 for GOSH and please feel free to contact them to verify that fact. The prints that we offer are the finest quality German Etching Giclee handprints and as such are expensive with prices starting from £95 but they are archival artworks and a lot more than just a simple school photo.

Someone mentioned there is a 'fake' royal crest which is totally untrue. We have a company coat of arms as part of our logo and it is in no way a royal crest and does not pretend to be that.

I would be grateful if you could take the time to research your comments before making them and indeed if you wish to you can contact us for more details (nobody contacted me). I have recommendation letters from hundreds of happy applicants who have taken part in the project and now have stunning professional images of their children on their walls and a beautiful A3 sized hand bound, boxed, hardback book featuring their child amongst all the others chosen in that year.

If you would like more information or would like to apply to be in this years edition then please go to www.ChildrenOfLondon.co.uk . Thank-you for taking the time to read this. I hope it explains exactly what the project is and what we are trying to offer to parents and children living in London today.

I came across this company via social media recently, clicked the link to their application page. What I found interesting was that they ask for parents job as part of the application. I don't know why is parents job to do with kids in London photographs unless you want to run an affordability check?

Yes, it's a scam.

Not sure HRH or the PM would be happy to have their names dragged into it either.

“ I believe that £50 given as a charitable donation is not too much to ask regardless of your financial position.”

Quote from @ChildrenOfLondon
who said they are founder Richard Bradbury

Why would you (or the king, PM and mayor) want a photobook of other people's children?!

I think I’ve been had. I just tried to cancel what I was feeling instinctively in my gut. However Richard once I went in to see the not so brilliant shots of my children pushed me into the sale of pics of our twins. I’ve been had for almost £2k right before Christmas and upon calling him today I asked if it was too late to cancel and he was very keen to let me know it was too late and hung up almost before I could get to the next sentence. How do I report such people?

Hi,
The Children Of London is a photographic project that offers the rare opportunity for your children to photographed by some of the best photographic artists in the UK. The images appear in a beautiful boxed book publication representing the different lives of London's children. Only a small selection of children are chosen to appear every year and after the shoot, parents are able to purchase prints if they wish. This is not compulsory and every child photographed appears in the book regardless. If ordered, the prints are produced by hand and are the finest quality, archival hand printed Giclee inkprints. Before any orders are taken we always explain in detail that these prints take time and skill to produce and they are expensive but they are the best quality photo prints available. If you order prints on 12th December (before Christmas) and then try to cancel them a month later in January after they have been produced and when they are with the framing company being framed, that is clearly not acceptable as the work has already been done. We always try to give the best service possible to all our clients and I never hang up the phone when I am talking to anyone. If you have any issues with anything I have said here please feel free to contact me personally by phone or email. My details are available on the website. Richard

Be aware this is a total and utter scam; I would not want any parent to suffer the fate of my friend.

As mentioned above he clearly uses the crest to signify some sort of royal accreditation to assure some sort of integrity.

It is a shame he is hiding under GOSH to fill his pockets. Very disappointing.

I had a friend who was duped into the so-called Children of London project and was ripped off and demanded to pay for the prints which she said was similar to that of snappy snaps. He then turned nasty when he did not get what he wanted.

It is also interesting why he needs to know the parent's job - perhaps to see who he can fleece the most?

If you wish to donate to a charity please do of your own accord and not through this.

Hi,
I am very upset that you say this project is a scam. It is not in any way! We have been running the project for over 15 years now and have raised more than £100,000.00 for Great Ormond Street. I am sorry that your friend did not enjoy the experience but we have featured more than 2000 children in the book and I have received countless messages of gratitude saying how wonderful the results are over the years. The crest that we use as part of our logo is our own crest and is nothing to do with the royal crest. Just to be one hundred percent clear, every child who is chosen to appear in the book gets a free location photoshoot at their favourite place in London and their photo features in a stunning hardback book published annually. We ask that they make a donation to GOSH in return for that and the amount they pay is up to them. We then ask if parents would like to buy any of the shots as prints or digital files and this, again, is entirely up to them. Saying the images are 'similar to Snappy Snaps' is utterly ridiculous as the prints we offer are archival Hahnemuhle German Etchings that are more like paintings than photographs and the parent get to see that before they order anything. Our prints are expensive because they are the very best available and I make that very clear to everyone who comes on board. I am very offended when you say that I got 'nasty' as that again is completely untrue. I understand that you want to support your friend but it is totally unfair to say these things without taking the time to contact me and discuss the issue from both sides. I would ask you please to make contact with us either by phone or email as I would love to listen to exactly what you and your friend has to say. Please get in touch and lets talk. Best Regards, Richard

This definitely NOT a scam. Richard asks people to make a donation to GOSH rather than pay for the photo shoot, it’s clever marketing but also raises money for charity (over £100,000 so far…I checked with GOSH). I did a photo session with them a few years ago and they do all the stuff they say they do - give money to GOSH and send books to the PM and HRH etc and Richard and his team are lovely. Before I signed up, I asked to speak to some other parents who had done it as I was sceptical too but it all checked out so I went ahead and ended up with some great pics. The prints etc are expensive but you get what you pay for. The shot are amazing. I can’t recommend them enough!

Wanted to add my opinion to the debate. I knew Richard from his work as an advertising photographer so applied for The Children Of London with my 4 year old 2 years ago. The shots at Clapham Bandstand were just incredible! Comparing him to Snappy Snaps is simply ridiculous! These are fine art…an amazing project by a unique photographer and have already recommended several of my mum mates!

Thankyou ClaphamMumsy. I really appreciate your comments. I think sometimes forums like this tend to fuel themselves with negative comments. I notice that virtually every person who has commented has not actually taken part in the project and yet seem to sound like they know all about it. I know there are many people out there that are not offering a good service and ironically that is one of the reasons I set up The Children Of London back in 2010. I met a mum yesterday in the street whose little boy was photographed for the book back in 2012. She was so pleased to say hello, her boy is now at University and says that people still comment on how beautiful her images are. Thanks again for your kind words.

We have three children, and each has had a photoshoot for the Children of London project (2019, 2022 and 2025). To be very clear, we have no relationship with Richard outside of the project, and have never met him outside of a shoot or image-review meeting.

The photoshoot is free, with a GOSH-donation requested. Some time after the photoshoot (around a week) you have an opportunity to view the finished photographs. We have always been very happy with the images - Richard has been very successful at capturing our children in the moment (this year all three at the same time in the same image!).

During the viewing there is an opportunity to buy digital copies, prints, framed prints and the book. We have bought a few prints over the years, and they are very high quality, and framed well if you choose that option. There has never been an obligation to buy anything.

In contrast to the story above, in the first year we felt we had got a bit carried away in what we bought so we got back in contact (I think within 24 hours) to cancel some of the purchases, and they simply refunded the difference to us.

I have sometimes wondered if some of what we bought was a little expensive but, in writing this post, I took the time to look up what a commercially available, equivalent service would cost. The first one to come up on Google, the shoot was £495/595 (weekday/weekend), and the digital file and framed prints were each more expensive than Richard charges. So actually, putting the charitable aspect aside, it’s a cost-effective way of getting a photoshoot for your children!

I can’t see what the alleged scam is. If you don’t like the photos, don’t buy any, and you haven’t paid anything for the shoot (other than the donation direct to GOSH). If you want to know the cost of the images, prints, etc just ask Richard in advance and compare them to what you can get from equivalent services elsewhere.

The children of London with Richard bradbury. Dont waste your time or your money. With a USB stick of photos he wants to charge £2,000 and then push you. Hes clever and very calculated and targets those wealthy individuals in central London. Then when it came to choosing the photos you have no say. I had to ask him to leave the room so myself and mother could discuss in private what to do. We did pay for the book, which is a good standard. But I dont believe Richard chose the best photos. Also im sure the parents who paid alot for the photos and bought many, were the ones who had their child on the front cover of the book. Its all marketing and a way to get money. But would not recommend to any parent to participate in. Its purelt targeted for the rich parents.